Fortified Zone

Fortified Zone is a 1991 top-down shooter video game developed and published by Jaleco for the Game Boy. The game is about the mercenaries Masato and Mizuki as they go through several environments to penetrate a military fortress. The game is set in a top-down point of view, where the characters shoot at various enemies while traverse four maze-like levels. The player can swap between each character who each have their own abilities ranging from being able to pick up enemy weapons to being able to jump to avoid traps. It was first released in Japan on February 26, 1991, and later released in the United States in September 1991. A number of contemporary reviews were lukewarm, with some complimenting the game adding puzzle-solving and to its action-themed gameplay, while others found the game had too many frustrating elements and difficulty spikes. Some retrospective reviews of the game's digital re-releases had similar complaints as well as finding the game to be too short. The game received two follow-ups with Fortified Zone 2 (1992) for the Game Boy and Operation Logic Bomb (1993) for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Fortified Zone is about two soldiers who are on a mission to infiltrate an enemy fortress. They must travel through various areas to lead to a their final goal of the fortress.